Spoof email tricks AOL users

An email scam is targeting AOL customers in an attempt to steal personal details, according to web monitoring company Websense.

Users receive a spoofed email purporting to come from the security department at AOL claiming that the company suffered a security breach over the weekend and that confidential information may have been compromised.

The email also requests users to connect to a website to download and install a new ‘security patch’, which will ‘protect their information’. The spoofed message reads:

‘Failure to download this security patch in the next 48 hours will result in the temporary suspension of your America Online account. At this point we will send you a Security Patch CD in the mail. Upon installing it, your account will be reactivated.’